The Theory of Youth
by Bonzai97
Summary: 15 year old Bella Swan is a genius who never believed in fairytales. Until she met Edward Cullen. First Fanfic, R&R!
1. Preface

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

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Preface

I've always liked challenges. Doing things the easy way never worked for me. Because of these challenges, I became a "genius", as the people in APS call it.

My name is Bella Swan, I am 14 years old and a theoretical physicist. I believe that there is an appropriate explanation for everything. I don't believe in fairytales. I believe in science.

So, when I met Edward Cullen, my life changed forever.

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"So, class, what is the controversy with the subatomic particles that have recently been found?" I asked the class that seemed to be more interested in doodling in their notebooks than paying attention to the discussion at hand. I was teaching an introductory to particle physics class at Dartmouth and it was the first day. Everybody seemed to be doing something else other than paying attention.

Someone raised their hand on the left side of the classroom. "I have a question, not an answer."

"Yes?" I sighed.

"How are you here? You're a kid." The young man said with an obvious smirk on his face. That was the question I got asked at least twice a week. I've gotten used to it by now but it still bothered me when I had to answer it all the time.

"Well, I actually paid attention in class, instead of doing juvenile things on my free time. I actually find physics interesting and you should too. Isn't that why you're in this class?" I questioned in a emotion-free voice.

"Well no, we probably were all forced to take this class." He said with a smile. I sighed and shook my head getting back to the discussion. The rest of the class went by slowly, but thankfully, with no more questions.

After the class left, I packed up my stuff and headed to the bus stop to go home. I got home and took off my shoes, got a snack and sat on the couch. I had 6 hours until my parents come home. Nothing a couple reruns of Star Trek can't solve.

Hopefully tomorrow is better than today.

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**I finally got a story up! Firsy story! Please tell me how it is! **

**Definitions: **

**APS- American Physical Society- Second largest group of physicists who try to advance the knowledge of physics.**

**Subatomic Particle- Smaller particles that make nucleons and atoms.**

**Star Trek- An awesome T.V. about the Starship Enterprise exploring the universe with its crew.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Here's the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

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The next day I lazily got out of bed and went to get ready. I got dressed into my Jimi Hendrix T-shirt and jeans and put my Converse sneakers on. You see, normal college professors where suits and ties with dress shoes. I hate dressing up so I don't. I wear "casual" clothing to any occasion I go to. If it's a APS conference or teaching a class, I don't dress up.

When I was ready to leave, I grabbed my bag and pulled out my iPod. On the bus ride to work, I indulged myself by listening to many of my favorite bands like Queen, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, and the Eagles. I internally laughed because my colleagues say that I was born into the wrong time period. They say I was supposed to be born in the 60's or 70's.

I arrived at work and made my way to my classroom. On my way there, I heard some professors talking to each other. It seems that one of them was having computer problems.

"…the picture on the screen was turned sideways!"

"Did you try turning it off and back on?" The other said, I laughed out loud. They noticed me so I decided to help him.

"One of your students probably pulled a prank, press ctrl, alt, and the down key at the same time and that should fix it." I explained trying to make it as simple as possible so they could understand.

After that I walked into my classroom and set my stuff down. I put the lesson on the overhead and sat down to relax. I thought about the past few years that have changed my life.

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_The small 12 year old girl sat on the couch of the dingy hotel room. She was so bored that she decided to take a walk in the city. Her parents were working on a business trip so they wouldn't mind. She walked down to the community center where a huge banner hung above the door reading:_

_**American Physics Society Conference, Enter as You Please**_

_She walked in and was amazed what she heard. She heard people talking about black holes, subatomic particles, and even something about a "Large Hadron Collider." She was so amazed that she decided to talk to some of the scientists. They looked perplexed because this little child new so much about their life's work. _

_Everything just got better form there._

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A knock my door interrupted my thoughts. I yelled for them to come in. A man about 6 feet tall with a very pale complexion walked in. He had copper-brown hair and golden- topaz eyes. _What a weird color of eyes, he must have contacts _I thought to myself. He asked when he came into the classroom, "Can you tell me where the..." he stopped abruptly and looked at me with confused eyes. "Where's the teacher for this room?"

"Right here, I'm the teacher. What was your question?" I asked trying not to roll my eyes.

"Umm, Can you tell me where the classroom for _Everyday Technology _is?" He asked with an irritated look on his face.

"Down the hall to the right," I said, getting up to pull my laptop out of my bag.

"Oh, ok, thank you." He said as he quickly left the room. _That was weird. _The class started coming in a couple of minutes after that and I started my speech about the discussion from yesterday. I went on with my classes the rest of the day without any questions or complaining from students.

I quickly packed up my things and while I waited for the last students to leave.

When I walked out the door I looked to the side and saw the boy staring at me from down the hall. He looked away when I saw and I headed toward the bus stop.

When I got home, I graded the papers I assigned for that day trying not to think about that boy.

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**I hope you like it! Leave a review!**

**Definitions:**

**Jimi Hendrix, Queen, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Eagles- Great bands that were adn still are famous in the 70's**

**Black Holes- A region of spacetime that consumes EVERYTHING, and cannot escape.**

**Large Hadron Collider- The world's largest particle accelorator. Basically it smashes atoms together to see what's inside of them.**


	3. Chapter 2

**I've got nothing better to do than write so here it is!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters**

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The next day I didn't see the boy around when I went to work. I went through the whole day thinking about him. The rest of the week went by without a sign of the guy that walked into my room.

It was now Saturday afternoon and I was absolutely bored. It was the weekend so my parents were gone. I was all alone.

I decided to walk down to the library to kill some time. When I got there, I picked out a book on vampires. I laughed aloud and got some funny looks from people sitting near me. I sat down and put my feet on the table to get more comfortable. The existence of vampires is completely impossible! There is no way one can live forever and simply survive off of blood.

I heard someone clear their throat nearby me. I looked up to see the bronze haired boy from the university.

"Aren't you the professor from the college?" He asked with a smooth voice.

"Yup. That's me." I replied simply.

"I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to introduce myself the other day, my name is Edward Cullen. Can I sit here?" He asked pointing at the seat in front of me. I nodded as he sat down.

"Bella Swan." I said as I held out my hand for a shake. When he shook my hand I noticed his hand was ice cold. _Is he sick or something?_

"So, how old are you?" He asked

"15," I said fighting the urge to roll my eyes. "Yourself?"

"17, graduated high school at that age and in my freshman year at Dartmouth" He replied. _17 and at an Ivy League. Wow. _"How are you teaching a class at an Ivy League school?"

"I'm _really_ smart." I said with a smirk on my face.

"Do you mind me asking all these questions?"

_I do._ "Not at all, but why are you asking them?" I questioned smoothly.

"I… find you very hard to read. I'd like to know more about you."

For the next hour or so, he sat there asking me questions about my childhood, my teaching career, and how I became interested in physics. When I looked at my watch, it read 3:00 p.m. "Well, I better get going. I have to get my lesson started for Monday."

"OK, I'll see you later." He said as I turned to leave. When I got home, I thought about all the questions he asked me. Why does he want to know about me? I pushed that though out of my head and worked on the lesson.

Around 7 pm I got in my pajamas, sweats and a T-shirt, and headed downstairs. When I got in the living room, the doorbell rang. I went over to open the door adn when I did, I saw two men in Black.

The next thing I knew there was a sharp pain in my head and everything went black.

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**Cliffy! Tell me if you like it! Leave a review!**

**Definitions:**

**Ivy League- Basically, a group of colleges that are really good.**


	4. Chapter 3

**So it seems that even this Bella attracts trouble.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

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When I woke up, my head hurt. _A lot._

_Ow._

I opened my eyes to see that I was in my living room. I was sitting on my couch. I tried to move my hands only to find out that they were tied behind my back. _Ok, don't panic._ There was no one else in the room so I was all alone.

_Wait. Where are my parents?_ I thought to myself. _Oh, they're on a business trip._

I heard footsteps down the hall that lead to the kitchen. The two people came into the room. "You're awake." one said.

"What do you want from me?" I asked trying not to let my voice break. The other man held up his hand rubbing his fingers together, showing me the universal sign for money.

"And if you don't tell us where it is," he said as he pulled out a small, pocket knife. "Shall I demonstrate?" He took a step toward me.

After that, it was a blur. Both men disappeared from in front of me and I heard a crash to the left of me. I looked over to see the both men on the ground and another person standing over them. Something told me that they were knocked out. The guy standing over them turned around as he said, "Are you all right?"

When I saw his face I gasped. It was Edward Cullen, the guy from the library. "H-how did you do that?" I stuttered.

"That's not important right now. Are you all right?" He repeated.

"I'm fine." I said as he came over to me to untie my hands. "Did you do that?" I said, gesturing to the unconscious men on the ground.

"Obviously," he said with a smirk.

"B-but how?" I questioned.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He said, not making eye contact.

"Try me."

"Do you remember that book you were reading in the library this afternoon?" He asked.

"Of course," I said. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. I realized what he was talking about and laughed out loud.

"Told you." He said.

"So, you're telling me that you're a vampire who drinks human blood?" I asked not expecting a real answer.

"Something like that."

"That's impossible! One cannot simply live off of the blood of an organism!" I exclaimed. "Prove it to me."

"Okay," He said. After that, he was gone.

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**Leave a review!**

**I'm guessing you guys understood every word in that chapter so no need for definitions!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry I couldn't update. I've been really busy with homework!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. :(**

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Edward returned about two seconds later with my microscope from my lab in the back of the house. It would have taken a normal person 30 seconds to get to the back of the house!

"Believe me now?" he asked holding up the microscope.

"What else you got?" I asked, ignoring his original question.

He smiled and next thing I knew, I was on his back. I could feel how cold his skin was. It was freezing! He ran _very_ fast out to the back door and bolted outside. We ran through the trees until there was a break so you could see the sun. He put me on the ground and walked into the sun.

When I saw his skin, I was amazed. It was glittering like it was made of diamonds. It was like he had millions of tiny faucets underneath the surface of his skin.

"Y-y-ou're sparkling!" I said completely awe-struck. I couldn't put what I saw into words! "Beautiful." I murmured to myself.

The smile dropped from his face, "This is the skin of a monster, Bella."

I ignored that comment and asked, "Does it hurt?"

"No," he replied simply. "Now do you believe me?"

I nodded. I was speechless.

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?" He asked.

"For saving me, showing me this, telling me the truth. Thank you." I said again.

He smiled, "You're welcome."

I stood there and stared at him glittering in the sun. The smile was wiped from his face and replaced with a glare. "What's wrong?"

"I need to know what you're thinking."

"Do you do that with all people?"

"No, just you." He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I know what other people are thinking, I can read their minds. But you, your _blank_. I can't hear anything. It bothers me." He explained.

"Oh, I'm thinking that the existence of vampires is completely impossible but I'm standing right in front of one."

He just smiled.

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**Hope you like it! Next update should be this weekend!**

**Leave a review!**


	6. Chapter 5

**I'm sooooo sorry guys! I've been really busy with class and _sleep deprivation!_ This story does still exist!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

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After the whole ordeal in the sun, Edward ran back to my house. It took me a while to realize that I was still in pajamas.

After he put me down we walked into my house and I went to the fridge and grabbed a Coke Zero, the best soda in the world, **(LOL)** and asked, "So you drink the blood of humans?"

"No. My family and I call ourselves vegetarians; we drink the blood of animals. We can survive off f it, but it doesn't taste as good." He said as he smiled slightly. I nodded in response.

"So, why can't you read my mind?" I asked

"I have no idea, it bothers me to death." He responded. I stayed silent trying to think why.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked, I nodded, "Why would those guys want your money?"

"I have lots of it; I've done a lot of things to 'earn' it. I've gone to APS conferences, taught classes, and contributed hugely to the scientific community." I explained. Then, the phone rang so I went over to answer it. It was a person from APS.

"Can you come to a small conference tomorrow in New Hampshire at 4?" He asked.

"Sure, what's it for?"

"Astrophysics, they need someone to explain possible supernovas."

"Ok, I'll be there," I said. After the conversation ended, I hung up the phone and turned around.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Edward. He nodded. "Would you like to come with me?"

"Sure, can I pick you up? He asked. I nodded and smiled.

"Okay, I'm gonna go now, I'll see you tomorrow at 4."

"Okay. Bye," I said as he left."

I went to bed that night smiling. _I'm _so_ excited for tomorrow._

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**Leave a review!**

**Definitions:**

**Astrophysics- The study of the physics of the universe such as stars and galaxies.**

**Supervovas- Basically, a star gets too old and has a massive explosion. **


	7. Chapter 6

**Hopefully I will be able to update more oftern considering my class is almost done! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

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The next morning I woke up and laid in bed thinking about the night before.

I had just met a vampire, who was not supposed to exist, and who could read minds. He tells me that I am the only one whose mind he can't read.

The whole day I was preparing my speech for the conference. I had done many of these before, so it wasn't a difficult thing to do.

I was looking forward to the conference because it was the first one since I got the teaching job at Dartmouth. Everybody would already know that I got the job so obviously there was gonna be a lot of questions. I usually enjoyed the conferences I was invited to because I got to be around people who knew about the things I enjoyed.

Around 3 o'clock, the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find Edward standing in the entry way.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yep, just let me get my backpack." I said. I got the bag and stuffed my notebooks and speech inside of it. I walked to the door and saw Edward leaning against the wall outside the door. I walked outside and closed the door behind me and turned around to lock it. "Let's go."

Edward stood up and walked around the corner to his car. His car was Silver Volvo that looked very well taken care of. "Nice car." I commented while he walked in front of me to open my door. I smiled at him as a thank you.

"Thanks, my family enjoys driving fast." He said simply.

"Does all your family have nice cars?" I asked as he got into the driver's side.

"Yes, unless you count Emmett's gigantic Jeep." He said, smiling.

I smiled. "What kind of music do you listen to?" He asked.

"Classic rock, you?"

He laughed aloud. "Me too. Finally someone who has good taste in music. It was even better in that time period. " He said turning on the radio to the classic rock station.

"How old are you?" I asked

"17," I gave him a curious look for him to continue. He sighed. "I was born in 1901 and was changed in 1918, I'm over a century old." He said. His smile was no longer there.

"How did you get changed?"

"My 'adoptive' father saw that I was dying from the Spanish influenza. He changed me in the hospital after my mother had died."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said with an apologetic look.

"That's ok, I don't really remember her, anyway."

The rest of the ride was filled Edward asking me questions about my hobbies and my favorite things. Eventually, we arrived at the college where the conference was being held. "We're here." He said.

"Are you staying?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course, I've never been to one of these things." He said smiling.

I got out of the car and walked to the entrance.

I took a deep breath and walked in.

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**Tell me if you like it! Leave a review!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Thank you guys so much for all the reveiws! I'm so glad that people actually read my stuff!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. :(**

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I walked through the glass sliding doors of the college and immediately came face to face with Henry, the man called me yesterday.

"Hey, Bella, glad you could make it. And this is?" He asked looking curiously at Edward, who was standing next to me.

"Hey Henry, this is my friend, Edward." I replied.

"Hello, sir, nice to meet you." Edward replied sticking his hand out to Henry in casual tone.

"Hello," shaking Edward's hand. "So, Bella, you're going to be talking about supernovas in a couple of minutes here, do have a speech prepared?" He asked me.

"Yup, I'm all ready."

"Ok, cool, let's go back stage right now." He led me back stage where I set my bag down and prepared myself for the next hour.

When I went to conferences, I always had to explain why a teenager was speaking a top grade physics conference. I started with my name and my job and then I talk about my experience with physics and the titles I've had. And then I go on with the subject at hand.

"Bella, you're on." said a man that was back stage. I smiled and walked quickly to the edge of the curtain as the speaker introduced me. I walked on and looked at hundreds of eyes staring at me.

"Hello, I'm Bella Swan," I said as I walked to the podium. After that I started my long and boring speech about myself.

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After I walked off stage Henry led me back into the lobby. The lobby was crowded with people and it was very hard to hear anything considering everybody was chatting among themselves. As I walked through the crowd, I found Edward leaning against the wall. "Hey," he greeted me with a smile, "You were great."

"Thanks, you enjoyed it?" I asked him.

"It was a great experience; I didn't know there were meetings for these kinds of things." I smiled at him. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yup, let's go." I said as we walked out of building and into his car. He turned on that radio again and we both smiled widely at each other.

The ride home was peaceful and quiet. He pulled up to the driveway of my house. He got out of the car and ran at vampire speed to my side of the car and opened my door for me. "Thanks," He smiled and reply.

I turned to Edward and said, "Thank you, Edward, I really enjoyed going with you."

"You're welcome; hopefully we can do something like that again." He replied

"Ok," I said as I turned to unlock the front door. "I'll see you later." I said, offering my hand for a shake.

"See you later," He said as he shook my hand. After he released my hand, I turned and took one last look of him walking towards his car. I walked inside the house and I heard yelling. _My parents must be home_. I walked into the kitchen to see my mom, Renee, on one side and my dad, Charlie, on the other. When I walked in, the stopped yelling and looked at me with a serious look on both of their faces.

"Bella," said Mom, "We have something to tell you,"

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"We're getting a divorce."

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**OOOHHHH another cliffy! Next update should be tomorrow or in the next couple of days! Leave a reveiw!**

**Also, I'm thinking about having someone proof read my writing. Should I do it?**


	9. Chapter 8

**I guess this chapter is longer. Hope you llike it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

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When I was 7, my parents took me to Disneyland in California. I was so excited because I had heard so many great things about it. When we had gotten there, my parents had started fighting about what ride we were going first. I couldn't understand why they were fighting because it didn't matter what ride we went on first, we had all day to go on everything.

When I was 9, I came home from school and heard yelling. My parents were screaming at each other's faces. They were mad because my dad had gotten demoted in his job. This yelling went on for hours. I had gone to bed when the fighting stopped. It was quiet when I heard a car start in the garage. I looked out my window to find my mom leaving the house. I didn't see her for a week.

When I was 12, my dad had gotten mad at my mom because she maxed out her credit card while on shopping trip. We were at a restaurant when we found out. They were speaking about it in hushed voices but I could hear the angriness in their voices. Halfway through the dinner, they just stopped talking all together and gave each other mean looks.

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I stood, frozen, in the middle of the kitchen with my mouth hanging open. I was in complete shock. I knew this was going to happen, but I couldn't get myself to believe it.

"Why?" I asked in a small voice.

"We just don't want to fight anymore. It's for the best." My mom said not really showing any emotion. I could tell she was about to start crying.

Suddenly, I snapped out of my daze and said, simply, "Okay," I walked out of the kitchen and right into my lab. I sat down in my desk chair and rested my elbows on the desk with my head in my hands. I took deep breaths, trying not to break down and start crying. All I wanted to do was lie on the floor in the fetal position crying my eyes out.

I gathered all my energy a couple of hours later to go to bed. I went to sleep right away.

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The next day I stayed in bed all day. I didn't even bother answering the phone to the questions about yesterday at the conference. I just stayed in bed all day thinking about last night.

What would happen to me? Where would my parents go? Was I going to move? Would I still be able to go to work?

All these questions scared me because I didn't know what was going on.

When I got to work the next day, I did my normal routine. I took the bus to the college, went to my classroom, and sat down waiting for the class to get there. I went through the day trying not to cry. I kept an emotionless look on my face the whole day. When the class left, I packed up my stuff to go home. I walked down the hall when a classroom door opened next to me. Edward stepped out and said, "Hi,"

"Hello." I said giving him a small smile.

"You okay?" He asked walking with me down the hall and outside.

"Uh, yeah." I said, emotionlessly.

"I don't believe you," he said grinning at me, I shook my head at him. "Please tell me." He said to me, practically begging.

"Fine, my parents are getting a divorce, happy?"

The smile had dropped from his face when I looked at him. "Oh," he said kind of speechless. "I'm so sorry Bella, I shouldn't have edged you on like that."

"It's okay," I replied.

"What's going to happen? Is there anything I can do?" he questioned.

"I don't know yet and no, but thanks." I sighed.

" Can I at least drive you home?" He asked. I nodded as I followed him to his car. He opened the car door for me and got in on his side. The ride home was fast and quiet. We pulled up to my house and he sighed.

"Thanks, bye." I said opening the door.

"Wait," he said stopping me before I could get out, "Can I pick you up tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure, thanks." I said.

"You're welcome, I'll see you tomorrow,"

"Bye," I said as I got out and walked to the door. I opened the door and thankfully heard no yelling, I was alone.

The rest of the night I spent playing WOW.

_When will this get better?_

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**Tell me if you like it! Leave a review!**

**Definitions: WOW- World of Warcraft- An awesome game where your character goes on quests and battles other players and creatures. **


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